Speaker 1: At least.
Speaker 2: He's the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson on
Speaker 2: your twenty four to seven Home of the Black and
Speaker 2: Gold Steelers.
Speaker 3: Nation Radio, and welcome to the Drive. The sun is
Speaker 3: shining here in Pittsburgh. There's still snow in the ground,
Speaker 3: but there's starting sun out there, starting them out a
Speaker 3: little bit. Steelers are practicing down at Akroshuer Stadium again
Speaker 3: today as they prepare for their Sunday or Saturday night matchup.
Speaker 4: Why would I say Sunday. They never play on Aday.
Speaker 3: Sunday, y are Saturday night matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 3: And news out of Baltimore today John Harbaugh declaring that
Speaker 3: Zay Flowers will not play in this game against the
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: I think it's huge, something we suspected all week obviously.
Speaker 3: Until he said it. Yeah, I just didn't know.
Speaker 5: Ye.
Speaker 1: I thought I might hold out, hope, game time decision,
Speaker 1: one of those kind of nonsense. But he hadn't practic.
Speaker 1: This didn't look good when it happened, and I think
Speaker 1: there's a lot of ramifications for them. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: their quick game guy, he's their best wide out and
Speaker 1: just the way the Steelers secondary is constructed. I think
Speaker 1: it fits well with their pass catchers.
Speaker 3: Now, yeah, I think everybody's forgetting that. For the second
Speaker 3: game in Baltimore this year, you didn't have Deshaun Elliott,
Speaker 3: you didn't have Dante Jackson, and Joey Porter Junior got
Speaker 3: hurt in the middle of that.
Speaker 1: Game, right, they were on fumes in the secondary, yeah,
Speaker 1: the least, right.
Speaker 3: So it has a trickle down effect the whole way
Speaker 3: across this And if you look back at that first game,
Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson completed forty eight point five percent of his passes,
Speaker 3: six point three yards per attempt, one touchdown, one interception,
Speaker 3: a passer rating of sixty six point one, which has
Speaker 3: been what he has done against the Steelers over the
Speaker 3: course of his career. The outlier was the next meeting,
Speaker 3: when he completed sixty five point two percent of his passes,
Speaker 3: average nine yards per pass attempt, had three touchdowns, and
Speaker 3: posted a one to fifteen point four passer rating against
Speaker 3: a secondary that was missing basically for two and a half,
Speaker 3: you know, two and a half starters basically the yah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And honestly, by Lamar's standards this year, that second
Speaker 1: game wasn't him shredding, blow it off right, right, and
Speaker 1: it wasn't his best game of the year or anything now,
Speaker 1: not even close. We've talked about this week, and I
Speaker 1: think it's really what works out well. Considering Bateman's a
Speaker 1: good player. I mean, I really liked him coming out
Speaker 1: of Minnesota. He's had some injuries. Instead of picking up
Speaker 1: their fifth year option, they extended him a year. They
Speaker 1: liked them, they didn't want him getting away, and they've
Speaker 1: used him as a deep threat more than I expected
Speaker 1: this year, you know, I mean, because Flowers is stepuisator
Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah, I mean they usually don't have a
Speaker 1: third receiver on the field, so kind of by default,
Speaker 1: he's kind of your go guy. But he has some
Speaker 1: physicality to him. But I think Porter matches up really
Speaker 1: really well on him, you know, I mean just stylistically, talents,
Speaker 1: you know, all those type of things. And then you
Speaker 1: mentioned Elliott not being around the first go round. Minka
Speaker 1: was asked to do a lot of different stuff during
Speaker 1: that stretch and he's very capable. But Elliott is really
Speaker 1: good against the run. For one thing. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think we know that he's a glue guy. He's a communicator,
Speaker 1: which has been a problem in the last month or so.
Speaker 1: But I like my chances with Elliott and Minka against
Speaker 1: Likelye and Andrews in any way, shape or form however
Speaker 1: that works out. And then that leaves you a lot
Speaker 1: of I'm not saying they'll never be safeties over the
Speaker 1: top or you're gonna be playing cover zero all day,
Speaker 1: but I bet they're aggressive with their coverages and that
Speaker 1: allows you a lot of more the box.
Speaker 3: Yeah, put more in the box to dedicate it to
Speaker 3: stopping the run. Yeah, I looked it up today, Matt.
Speaker 3: The receivers on wide receivers on Baltimore's team, Yeah, currently
Speaker 3: right now who are not named Zay Flowers and Rashad
Speaker 3: Bateman twenty seven.
Speaker 4: Catches this year.
Speaker 1: That doesn't surprise him.
Speaker 4: Twenty seven catches.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And other than Aguilar, they've never really had career
Speaker 1: success either.
Speaker 5: Ye.
Speaker 1: I mean they're a bunch of unknowns.
Speaker 4: And even Aguilar's career successes.
Speaker 1: And he was a former first round pick, but he
Speaker 1: hasn't been good a lot of this. I don't think Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: I don't think you love him playing a ton No.
Speaker 3: I assume he'll be there too, though, could be Tolem Wallace.
Speaker 1: Could be maybe they just have a rotation going or
Speaker 1: different packages or whatever. But I don't think you're gona
Speaker 1: see three of them on the field very much, Not
Speaker 1: very much, I wouldn't. I mean you're leaving a good
Speaker 1: player and likely or Ricard or Cool or whoever off
Speaker 1: the field, if that's your approach.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it certainly shrinks what Baltimore can do.
Speaker 3: Not that they play a lot of eleven personnel to
Speaker 3: begin with, but but.
Speaker 1: They can throw it, and you know right now that limits.
Speaker 4: Them, you know, and the guys that are still going
Speaker 4: to put on the field.
Speaker 3: It's not like they're not there's not some good players there, right,
Speaker 3: but they don't have they don't have that speed element.
Speaker 4: With with the playmate they had their playmaking.
Speaker 3: I should say they have the speed element, But do
Speaker 3: you trust the speed element as much as you do
Speaker 3: with Jay Flowers, right?
Speaker 1: I mean he's going the Pro Bowls here, he's an
Speaker 1: as sending player. Teams have been attacking the Steelers by
Speaker 1: getting it out quick. I would think he'd be your
Speaker 1: top target for that. You know, quick hitters near the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, get open immediately, scheme them up through
Speaker 1: motion whatever. Yeah, Andrews and likely are good players too,
Speaker 1: but I think the Steeler safeties can do fair enough
Speaker 1: against them.
Speaker 3: And remember Andrews in his first ten games against the Steelers,
Speaker 3: in his first ten games, yeah, the eleventh one was
Speaker 3: the last one that they played, had zero touchdown catches
Speaker 3: against the Steelers, none, zero, zilch na. Now he did
Speaker 3: have a touchdown catch in the second meeting when the
Speaker 3: Steelers were missing three starters in the same Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: just a huge It makes them so much easier to defend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's just the way that the Steelers
Speaker 1: are set up and the way that the Ravens are
Speaker 1: set up. That'd be one of the guys you'd want
Speaker 1: to pluck out of their lineup, maybe ahead of Andrews,
Speaker 1: maybe ahead of any of the offensive lineman, you know, I.
Speaker 3: Mean pretty much ahead of anybody, but Derrick Henry or
Speaker 3: Lamar Bokson.
Speaker 1: I think so, just because they're so weak there, which
Speaker 1: is why they traded for Deontay Johnson that didn't work out.
Speaker 1: But they recognize we don't have a lot of man beaters,
Speaker 1: we don't have a lot of quick hitter type guys. Yeah.
Speaker 3: The other thing people forget about that first game against
Speaker 3: the Ravens was no George Pickens for the Steelers, right, right,
Speaker 3: so they.
Speaker 1: Were I mean, Porter and Pickens are really hard to replace.
Speaker 4: Yeah, nobody.
Speaker 3: I mean, as you're seeing, we've heard this all season
Speaker 3: long with the Steelers. I can't believe they didn't go
Speaker 3: get a second wide receiver. They needed a second wide receiver.
Speaker 3: Baltimore is in the same boat. Yeah, yeah, Now Bateman
Speaker 3: is you'd love that baby coming into this, right, you
Speaker 3: didn't know what Bateman was, no, right, I mean later
Speaker 3: shown anything like this.
Speaker 1: No, it's definitely his best year.
Speaker 3: But even at that, he has forty five catches this year.
Speaker 3: You know, he's not like he's you know, I.
Speaker 1: Think he had three or four last week, and then
Speaker 1: he had one and one the two weeks before that.
Speaker 1: You know, I mean he's not a secondary over and
Speaker 1: over and over, right, and frankly, I think Porter is
Speaker 1: the better player. I mean, yeah, I know the Steelers
Speaker 1: secondary is not the strength of the team, but boy
Speaker 1: would I challenge them this week, Like, we're not even
Speaker 1: putting safeties over the top to help you guys. You know,
Speaker 1: the three of you two safeties and even Jackson versus Aguilar,
Speaker 1: the four of you are going to take their four
Speaker 1: top receivers and yeah, we'll help you some, but there's
Speaker 1: any times we're not, you know, And that's the way
Speaker 1: it's gonna go, you know.
Speaker 3: And I would look at this, yeah and say, look,
Speaker 3: if we're not gonna let Bateman beat us, we're not
Speaker 3: gonna let the two tight ends beat us. We're gonna
Speaker 3: try not to let the quarterback and the running back
Speaker 3: beat us. If one of those other if Tyler Wallace
Speaker 3: beats you or Nelson Aga beat you, it's just not
Speaker 3: your day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so be it right. Yeah, again, Kohler doesn't even
Speaker 1: touch the ball. Ricard doesn't even touch the ball. They're
Speaker 1: there blockers, their guards in motion and chip guys.
Speaker 3: That's the other thing here, Matt, Like, okay, so you
Speaker 3: take you take those seventy plus catches out of the lineup,
Speaker 3: thousand plus yards out of the lineup. They only play,
Speaker 3: I mean they largely play in in you know, twenty
Speaker 3: two or twenty you know, twenty one personnel. It there's
Speaker 3: there's two tight ends, a fullback and a running back
Speaker 3: on the field lot a lot. So now you're taking
Speaker 3: that outside weapon away, you know, from that the guy
Speaker 3: that can actually you know when you're playing in that
Speaker 3: formation or with that grouping, who actually can scare the
Speaker 3: Bejesus out of a defense, Because if you miss a
Speaker 3: tackle on Zay Flowers and he's shifty, yeah he can.
Speaker 3: He can get a player, he can make a big
Speaker 3: play against you. We're kind of taking some of that away.
Speaker 3: Bateman's not a run after the catch guy, No, not
Speaker 3: so much. No, he's a move the chains can get
Speaker 3: over the top. But he's not a super burner either.
Speaker 3: I mean, despite his long ones, it's the physicality down
Speaker 3: the field or a lot of times with him, it's
Speaker 3: because he's wide open singles.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, play action and take a shot to him.
Speaker 1: And again he's evolving, but he's not close to a one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And he's a very different type of player than Flower.
Speaker 3: So again it makes them much easier to defend in
Speaker 3: this game and your at full strength, right.
Speaker 1: I do think the health stuff is certainly in the
Speaker 1: Steelers favor, especially on that side of the ball too.
Speaker 1: Now that doesn't mean you can get Henry on the
Speaker 1: ground or Lamar on the ground or or if you
Speaker 1: blitz Lamar, and I hope they do, because he's a
Speaker 1: heavily blitzed player and he handles it well. He handles
Speaker 1: everything well now, but I want to get hits on him.
Speaker 1: I wanted to force the ball out of his hand.
Speaker 1: I was worried about dropping guys.
Speaker 3: Here's what you know, I think in the second meeting,
Speaker 3: because they were so they were down so many players
Speaker 3: in the secondary. You get James Pierre out there, you
Speaker 3: have Corey Treis, you know, Cam Sutton's out there a
Speaker 3: lot that.
Speaker 1: The Suttons and Beanies probably won't play hardly at all,
Speaker 1: much at all.
Speaker 4: In this game.
Speaker 3: And I think because you were kind of you know,
Speaker 3: you just didn't have your guys back there, you're more
Speaker 3: concerned about Lamar beating you over the top at least
Speaker 3: early in the game than you are maybe stopping Derrick Henry.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and again I'm sure burn the boats, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're gonna we don't need to play a
Speaker 1: conservative cover three shell over and over, because what we
Speaker 1: got to lose. You know, we're not playing to live
Speaker 1: another day. We're on the road. We're a dog. We
Speaker 1: got some serious playmakers in the run game and a
Speaker 1: really good quarterback. Let's do everything we can to make
Speaker 1: life difficult on him. You know, because he doesn't have
Speaker 1: a go to.
Speaker 3: Guy, doesn't have as much as Andrews has been the
Speaker 3: Woodbee over the years, Flowers has kind of been.
Speaker 1: He's really important.
Speaker 3: He's the first receiver in their history that they have
Speaker 3: drafted who made Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: And is that crazy? I mean, like all their good
Speaker 1: ones have been like Bolden, Steve Smith, Mason that they've recycled,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure any of them were great. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're not exactly known as a throat all over the place,
Speaker 1: you know, franchise, but that is pretty crazy. It's a
Speaker 1: good organization. Only one drafted receiver go to the Pro Yeah,
Speaker 1: those aren't hard.
Speaker 4: To come, No, they're not.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean again three receivers in the AFC North
Speaker 3: made addition, which is what it is. But I just
Speaker 3: think that's a massive, massive blow to the Ravens. Not
Speaker 3: sure they've been you know, they've prepared all long, like, hey,
Speaker 3: we're probably not going to have him, but you hold
Speaker 3: out hope until the last minute.
Speaker 1: And you know, do we know any Justice Hill stuff.
Speaker 1: Do we think he plays? He's going to be back here,
Speaker 1: I assume. So now this sounds crazy, but he's a playmaker,
Speaker 1: you know, Mitchell's a playmaker, but that means you take
Speaker 1: Henry off the field, right, Like, do they want to
Speaker 1: get some easy completions to backs? I mean just trying
Speaker 1: to look. I'm trying to think how they would think
Speaker 1: without Flowers. I'm not going to trot out I'm definitely
Speaker 1: not going to try it out a third receiver. No,
Speaker 1: who are my other pass catchers? Of course, I'm going
Speaker 1: to try to feature Likely and Andrews. And if I'm
Speaker 1: in their shoes, I might be like, Okay, those Steeler
Speaker 1: safeties are pretty good, but our tight ends are equally good.
Speaker 1: We're going to go toe to toe with those guys
Speaker 1: and we hope we win that matchup, but they might.
Speaker 3: You know, here's a thing, though, You're starting to throw
Speaker 3: the ball around Minka, And that's the one thing that
Speaker 3: did go well for the Steelers last time, is to
Speaker 3: make a picked one off against you know, because Lamar
Speaker 3: as good of a passer as he is, and I
Speaker 3: think he's gotten so much better at this, he still
Speaker 3: will overthrow a receiver every once.
Speaker 1: Sure, sure guy too. I keep going back to tips
Speaker 1: and things like that too. I mean, I think you
Speaker 1: can get your cam does every game. I mean I
Speaker 1: feel like you can get your hands on the ball,
Speaker 1: whether it's Dee Liman or Pbu's on the back end
Speaker 1: at some point in this game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm kind of surprised. I just looked before we
Speaker 3: started the show, and of course the news here on
Speaker 3: Flowers has been out now for a couple of hours.
Speaker 3: I wanted to see if that had moved the line
Speaker 3: at all, and it.
Speaker 1: Really has assumed. Vegas assumed he was going.
Speaker 3: To be out, which is surprising to me because the
Speaker 3: first meeting, the Steelers didn't have Pickens and they were
Speaker 3: missing again some guys in the secondary and Ogunjobi as well,
Speaker 3: and that one was seven points.
Speaker 4: You're telling me, I.
Speaker 1: Don't know, Joby, the mix is not is not nothing either, no, right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: So you're telling me. What you're telling me over what
Speaker 3: Vegas is saying from that line to this one is
Speaker 3: that if Za Flowers were playing, the Ravens will be
Speaker 3: eleven or twelve point favorites.
Speaker 1: I don't exactly know how that worked. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just know that they want equal people.
Speaker 3: Be their offensive. Pickens is to the Steelers offense.
Speaker 1: I'd say close. Yeah, I see you're saying. I just
Speaker 1: think that the general public. Joe Blow from Omaha or
Speaker 1: Seattle or whatever. This says, Boy, the Steelers are sliding
Speaker 1: and the Ravens are I.
Speaker 3: Mean, we've been talking about this, this Flowers thing all week.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I've heard or seen a lot
Speaker 3: of other final.
Speaker 1: Saying about this. I mean, I listen to a lot
Speaker 1: of podcasts, I read, I got a bunch of different
Speaker 1: sites every day, and I don't think people realize or
Speaker 1: at least yet the ramifications of, you know, why what
Speaker 1: happens with him being out again?
Speaker 3: The rest of their receivers, all of them, Yeah, had
Speaker 3: twenty seven catches not named Bateman or Flowers, like you
Speaker 3: don't even they barely play.
Speaker 1: And it's so much different than like the Bengals, you know,
Speaker 1: where it'd be like Higgins are Chas being out, yeah
Speaker 1: to a degree, just because.
Speaker 4: But they've got you a Cybus who's a decent player.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thinking about the Steelers being one
Speaker 1: really strong man corner where Bateman might be an issue
Speaker 1: for them if Flowers was out there or I don't
Speaker 1: think Porter would probably even line up on Flowers. Maybe
Speaker 1: it'd still be on Bateman.
Speaker 3: He did the for the first time problem. In the
Speaker 3: first game they put Porter on Bateman. Yeah, yeah, he
Speaker 3: matched up much more his style. Bateman had two catches
Speaker 3: in the game for like thirty yards.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like Hagen's worth chase and.
Speaker 3: Then they and then they you know, or the other
Speaker 3: thing you know with Okay, we're just gonna double Flowers,
Speaker 3: and Flowers really didn't hurt them much in that game.
Speaker 1: Approach without doubling him. Yeah, you know, double the new
Speaker 1: guy and then you're pretty good shape.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So again, I think it has a massive trickle down
Speaker 3: effect in this game. And yeah, I don't know that
Speaker 3: it's being talked about him though.
Speaker 1: Agree, and I do expect the Steelers to have a
Speaker 1: lot of big people on the field. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have Roberts, you're gonna have Bent, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: have your base three four. Wouldn't shock me if you
Speaker 1: saw a third outside linebacker out there at times, you.
Speaker 3: Know, all three inside backers just yeah, yeah, you know
Speaker 3: whatever you're going to do there. But again, if they're
Speaker 3: going to come out with with two tight ends or
Speaker 3: two tight ends, a full back, yeah, and a running back,
Speaker 3: that's four eligibles right there. They've only got one receiver
Speaker 3: on the field. Yeah, and we're playing with one cornerback.
Speaker 1: A lot of times I would say that would be
Speaker 1: play the Steeler strengths. Honestly, yeah, I'd be very fine
Speaker 1: with that. Like I'm sure people do not count Recard
Speaker 1: the same as they count Mitchell or you can't. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you catch all season touch the ball, you know, right,
Speaker 1: he's a guard.
Speaker 4: Coler barely touches the ball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's I mean again, if these guys,
Speaker 3: if these are the guys that beat you, so.
Speaker 1: I mean, they may catch a touch I mean, Coler
Speaker 1: might catch a short touchdown or a first down, or
Speaker 1: Recard picks up a fourth and.
Speaker 3: One, you know, but they're not they're not found. They're
Speaker 3: not found. They're not passing game. No, they're not going
Speaker 3: to feature those guys at all. It's like you know,
Speaker 3: throwing the ball to Michael Pruet or something. You know,
Speaker 3: that's okay, Yeah, every once in a while works, yeah, right,
Speaker 3: But by and large, I mean no, those aren't NFL playmakers.
Speaker 3: They're out there to create matchup or create blocking angles,
Speaker 3: be physical on the move lineman, and you you dug
Speaker 3: up a great stat on those two players. In particular crazy.
Speaker 3: I mean when they're on the field. Yeah, when Coler,
Speaker 3: when Cohler and Ricard on the field together, the Ravens
Speaker 3: run the ball eighty eight percent of eighty eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that goes back to this year and last year combined. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like there's a lot of numbers out there of Cohlers
Speaker 1: on the field. They're run percentages like well over sixty.
Speaker 1: The cards are in the fields well over sixty. Now
Speaker 1: that's not totally shocking. And sometimes they're up by twenty
Speaker 1: late in the game and they just run horses and am.
Speaker 1: But when they're both on the field they're running the ball,
Speaker 1: have a sign back behind Lamar, it goes, we're running
Speaker 1: the football here. Now stopping it's a different story, right,
Speaker 1: you know it can be Lamar getting the ball. Use
Speaker 1: a much different ball carrier than Henry. Those guys are
Speaker 1: good blockers too. They can dig out watch their high
Speaker 1: smith or even why they're out to lineman, right, I
Speaker 1: mean they're three hundred pound card. I mean they can
Speaker 1: take on on the land and Roberts in the hole.
Speaker 1: There are many people that can do that type of thing.
Speaker 1: And we did a show with Rob King today too,
Speaker 1: and he mentioned you know you love to get penetration
Speaker 1: on Henry. I mean, you don't want him to get
Speaker 1: his feet started. Yeah, but they know that too, you know,
Speaker 1: so they run a lot of traps. They let you
Speaker 1: come upfield and they wham you from the side. You know,
Speaker 1: they know what you're trying to do too. You know,
Speaker 1: They're running game is very diverse. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, But again I think that's just massive piece of
Speaker 3: news today that comes out. Again, the Steelers relatively healthy
Speaker 3: for this one. We're going to take a break when
Speaker 3: we come back. We've got a special guest coming on. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Marcus Mosher from the thirty third team also does some
Speaker 3: work with Matt on we record a podcast.
Speaker 1: Ye yeah, but he's going to join us.
Speaker 4: He made his NFL picks for the playoff games.
Speaker 1: It's pretty much right. It's like an article of day
Speaker 1: I've noticed for thirty three third team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because a guy we've talked about his his stuff
Speaker 3: on here before. But he's going to join us on
Speaker 3: the show here in the next segment, we're going to
Speaker 3: chat with him about this game, get a little nash
Speaker 3: perspective on this particular matchup.
Speaker 1: Right after this.
Speaker 2: At least, he's the drive with Dale Lolly and Matt
Speaker 2: Williamson on your twenty four to seven Home of the
Speaker 2: Black and Gold cast in Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 3: And welcome back. I am Dale Lolly. He is the
Speaker 3: Matt Williamson and we're joined on the Justin Miller hot
Speaker 3: Line by Marcus Moser from the thirty third Team. I
Speaker 3: know you do a lot of other stuff as well, busy,
Speaker 3: including a podcast with Matt here as well, Marcus on
Speaker 3: the is.
Speaker 4: It Locked on, Locked On Dynasty?
Speaker 1: Every Wednesday on Dynasty?
Speaker 3: But we appreciate you dropping in here on the Drive
Speaker 3: and sharing your expertise here, Marcus, because we wanted to
Speaker 3: get kind of a national perspective on this particular game.
Speaker 3: And I know you're you're a fellow eight one four
Speaker 3: guy like myself up in Erie. Yeah, first of all,
Speaker 3: have you dug out from all the know you ener?
Speaker 3: Did you guys not get all the snow and eerie?
Speaker 5: We got about sixteen inches over the last two days
Speaker 5: dusting and eerie. Yeah, it's just a regular Thursday for.
Speaker 1: Us, yikes.
Speaker 3: But Marcus, you released your your picks as you do
Speaker 3: every week on the thirty third Team predictions for the
Speaker 3: upcoming playoff games, and you do this every week on
Speaker 3: the thirty third team.
Speaker 4: We talk about they keep you busy too. Yeah, you
Speaker 4: do a lot of stuff on there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Uh so your pick on the Steelers Ravens game. Let
Speaker 3: us give our listeners an idea of what you picked
Speaker 3: and why you picked that particular outcome.
Speaker 4: I'll let you explain.
Speaker 5: First of all, I feel like I'm the only person
Speaker 5: that's picking Pittsburgh or even giving Pittsburgh a chance in
Speaker 5: this game, and I don't quite understand why.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 5: I know Pittsburgh has lost the last four games. I
Speaker 5: know the Ravens have played really well over the last
Speaker 5: four games, but these two teams always played really really
Speaker 5: close games. And when you get into the playoffs and
Speaker 5: it's a divisional matchup, I just would hate to lay
Speaker 5: nine and a half ten points on a team that's
Speaker 5: that's without their number one receiver. And I want to
Speaker 5: go back to the previous game because I think a
Speaker 5: lot of people are remembering that second game differently. The
Speaker 5: Steelers did not have Dante Jackson. They lost Joey Porter
Speaker 5: Junior early in that game. The Steelers rely so much
Speaker 5: on their corners to be able to cover one on one,
Speaker 5: so when you're without your top two guys, makes a
Speaker 5: big difference. They'll have both of those guys this week,
Speaker 5: and Jay Flowers is going to be and be out
Speaker 5: in this one. We should mention George Pickens also didn't
Speaker 5: play in that second matchup. It just feels like everything
Speaker 5: is aligning this for the Steelers to make this game
Speaker 5: way more competitive than anybody else that expects.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Marcus, I love that you recognize that there was
Speaker 1: a lot of circumstances for that game, you know, and
Speaker 1: the Steelers are also in the midst as were the Ravens.
Speaker 1: Three games and eleven days a brutal stretch. They were
Speaker 1: pretty banged up and they're kind of getting kicked while
Speaker 1: they were down. But they're in a lot different spot
Speaker 1: right now. As mentioned, you and I do a Dynasty show,
Speaker 1: and you know, you're on top of all these skill
Speaker 1: position players. What do you think they're missing in Zay Flowers?
Speaker 1: You know, what's your quick profile of him?
Speaker 5: I mean, somebody that can that can get open quickly.
Speaker 5: They just don't have anybody else on the roster that
Speaker 5: can win one on one, create quick separation to make
Speaker 5: plays after the catch. Rashaan Batman's had a really good year.
Speaker 5: He's this is the best he's played all year. But
Speaker 5: he's not a number one receiver. He's a really good,
Speaker 5: complimentary player. And I just if I'm if I'm looking
Speaker 5: at this from a Baltimore perspective, how do they create
Speaker 5: big chunk plays in the passing game without Jay Flowers
Speaker 5: is going to be really hard. And I think what
Speaker 5: Mike Tomlin is going to do is continue to blitz
Speaker 5: Lamar Jackson at an absurd rate. He does it more
Speaker 5: than any other defensive coordinator in the league. And Dare
Speaker 5: Lamar who has been ship in the playoffs, and Lamar's
Speaker 5: actually talked about this. He gets a little too eth
Speaker 5: up for these games. Tried to complete passes down the
Speaker 5: field that Rashad Bateman, Nelson Aguilar with Pittsburgh's healthy corners
Speaker 5: back of the field.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they blitch him on early downs a lot too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: lots of.
Speaker 5: Run blitzes, right, Yeah, to force them out of first
Speaker 5: and second ound runs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know they even in the win in Baltimore,
Speaker 3: Lamar had he had three touchdowns in an interception, but
Speaker 3: it was if he only had like two hundred and
Speaker 3: seven passing yards. And I think he had twenty two
Speaker 3: rushing yards in that game. It wasn't a Lamar Lamar game,
Speaker 3: So in the back of his mind it's not only
Speaker 3: the playoff stuff that he has to deal with. But
Speaker 3: he hasn't played well in his career against the Steelers either.
Speaker 5: No, he has, and I do wonder if John Harbaugh
Speaker 5: is Todd Monkey, just don't go back to a more
Speaker 5: run heavy offense. And I think Pittsburgh knows that right
Speaker 5: They know they have to stop Derrick Henry, but that
Speaker 5: might be the best strategy for Baltimore is to use
Speaker 5: more two tight end sets, get Isaya likely in the field,
Speaker 5: and just try to keep this game close until Lamar
Speaker 5: settles down a little bit. There's been plenty of quarterbacks
Speaker 5: over NFL history that just take a couple quarters.
Speaker 3: To get going.
Speaker 5: They need to get hit, they need to have things
Speaker 5: gonna slow down for them. I think Lamar is one
Speaker 5: of those quarterbacks. I wouldn't be surprised if we have
Speaker 5: like a Steve into six first half between Baltimore.
Speaker 1: And Pittsburgh, which is right up the Steelers alley. For
Speaker 1: a game like this, you exactly probably some sort of weather.
Speaker 1: Of course, you know the Steelers are going to be
Speaker 1: aggressive physically, you know, with nothing to lose at this point,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned likely, we kind of assume at this
Speaker 1: point they're a very light, you know, eleven personnel offense. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I'd be shocked if we see a third receiver on
Speaker 1: the field hardly at all. I mean, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: likely and Andrews. But those guys aren't your chippers against
Speaker 1: what you know. I mean, that's gonna be Charlie Kohler,
Speaker 1: which isn't a threat.
Speaker 5: And actually Charlie Kohler's out in this game.
Speaker 1: He got hurt last week.
Speaker 5: So yes, it's probably gonna be Patrick Riccard. Like we
Speaker 5: must see twenty two personnel in this game, and honestly,
Speaker 5: that might be the best way to attack Pittsburgh anyways,
Speaker 5: is try to load up, make Pittsburgh's defensive line have
Speaker 5: to try to get off blocks.
Speaker 1: And make tackles.
Speaker 5: I will say, I think with Pittsburgh having such a
Speaker 5: long losing streak in the playoffs, I wouldn't be surprised
Speaker 5: if this is finally the playoff game where Mike Tomlin
Speaker 5: unleashes a little bit. I don't think he can play
Speaker 5: a conservative game plan and necessarily win this. This is
Speaker 5: the healthiest he's been in the playoffs in the last
Speaker 5: several years. Remember t J. Watt didn't play last year
Speaker 5: year else Yeah, it's they're pretty much healthy from you know,
Speaker 5: the team they had starting in October. I just wouldn't
Speaker 5: be surprised if this is the game that Tomlin is
Speaker 5: a little bit more aggressive than what we're used to seeing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you either have the the you know,
Speaker 3: the weapons and everything, or you don't. And it is
Speaker 3: interesting to to me at least, you know, I think back,
Speaker 3: and I brought this up earlier in the week. I
Speaker 3: think back to the twenty fourteen playoff game the Steelers
Speaker 3: played against the Ravens where they had to win a
Speaker 3: division in the final week of the season against the Bengals,
Speaker 3: and so they played it to win it. Le'Veon Bell
Speaker 3: gets hurt, and so they go into the game the
Speaker 3: following week against the Ravens, who were the wild card team.
Speaker 3: Ravens are healthy, the Steelers are missing Le'Veon Bell, who's
Speaker 3: their best offensive weapon, and lo and behold, the Ravens
Speaker 3: win that game. There's some correlation here between that and
Speaker 3: you know what's going on with Flowers and.
Speaker 5: The other thing I want to point out about this
Speaker 5: game is it feels like the longer that Pittsburgh stays
Speaker 5: in it, the better their chances are of winning. Because
Speaker 5: I don't know about you guys, but whenever I watch
Speaker 5: Justin Tucker now, I expect him.
Speaker 3: To miss, right, Yeah.
Speaker 5: And I have the complete opposite feeling with Chris Boswell, like, hey,
Speaker 5: get it inside the forty two yard line and that
Speaker 5: kicks is going to be good. It doesn't matter if
Speaker 5: it's raining or snowing or winny. He is so clutch.
Speaker 5: And I think that's gonna have to factor into how
Speaker 5: the Ravens play this. I don't think they want to
Speaker 5: play a game where they have to rely on their
Speaker 5: defense to make a stop or Justin Tucker to make
Speaker 5: a fifty yard field goal. So again, I think if
Speaker 5: Pittsburgh can keep this game close going into the fourth quarter,
Speaker 5: they're gonna have a great chance of stealing it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, just everybody knows.
Speaker 3: Your prediction in the game score was Steelers twenty, Ravens nineteen,
Speaker 3: So you're expecting that kind of game.
Speaker 5: It's probably the only way Pittsburgh can win, right. But
Speaker 5: the good news for this in.
Speaker 1: The thirties, I don't love their chances, right.
Speaker 5: No, No, Pittsburgh excels at playing twenty to nineteen games
Speaker 5: like Mike Tomlin loves it. And I do think that
Speaker 5: Baltimore has a tendancy, especially in the first playoff game,
Speaker 5: to be a little tight, and the longer that they
Speaker 5: stay tight and the fewer big plays they create down
Speaker 5: the field, I just think gonna get more anxious for
Speaker 5: them as the game goes on.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought up the special team slash kicker advantage,
Speaker 1: but Steelers have been really strong on special teams all year,
Speaker 1: and Harbaugh over his career is always at the top
Speaker 1: of the league of special teams and that's changed drastically lately.
Speaker 1: But the other things in the margins at favor of
Speaker 1: the Steelers are Baltimore is the second heaviest penalized team
Speaker 1: in the entire league. Steelers are kind of middle of
Speaker 1: the road to below or above average, and then turnovers.
Speaker 1: I mean, despite not being great in turnover differential during
Speaker 1: this losing streak, there's still second overall to the Bills
Speaker 1: and where the Ravens are kind of middle of the road.
Speaker 1: So bounces and winning in the margins I think really
Speaker 1: favors Pittsburgh, and.
Speaker 5: We should mention in that second matchup, I believe there
Speaker 5: were four fumbles in that game and Baltimore recovered them all.
Speaker 1: Now, no fumble lately at all.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was right, and it's really hard to predict that.
Speaker 5: But if one or two of those go your way,
Speaker 5: you don't. You never know. And again, Baltimore is a
Speaker 5: very talented team, but they're sloppy. They're sloppy on offense
Speaker 5: with penalties. I think they had eight pre stat penalties
Speaker 5: against Pittsburgh that first game. We saw the fumble by
Speaker 5: Derrick Henry. They are not a super clean team and
Speaker 5: that's why they can lose some of these games to
Speaker 5: far lesser teams. Again, I just don't trust Baltimore in
Speaker 5: the playoffs yet to not step on their toes and
Speaker 5: these kind of games.
Speaker 3: And Marcus looking at some of the other games here
Speaker 3: this weekend, obviously everybody's going to be keyed in on
Speaker 3: all these games, particularly in our area here in the
Speaker 3: AFC games. It's an AFC Saturday and the Chargers are
Speaker 3: at the Houston Texans, the Chargers favored NET game.
Speaker 4: Who do you like in that one?
Speaker 5: Oh? I love the Chargers this week. I'd be surprised
Speaker 5: that that line was only two and a half or
Speaker 5: three when it first came out. Chargers are playing really well.
Speaker 5: They've scored at least thirty four points in their last
Speaker 5: three games. It feels like that offense it's taken a bit,
Speaker 5: but the offense is finally starting to click. Meanwhile, Houston's
Speaker 5: defense is really good. That offense is a train wreck
Speaker 5: right now. I just don't see how CJ's Droub without
Speaker 5: Tank Dell, without Stefan Diggs and with a pretty bad
Speaker 5: offensive line is able to score more than seventeen to
Speaker 5: twenty points.
Speaker 4: That's why they went and got Deontay Johnson.
Speaker 5: So we think we'll see deonce this week because I
Speaker 5: have right who knows the way you can put him
Speaker 5: out there.
Speaker 1: Do you think the Texans are the weakest team in
Speaker 1: the in the playoffs? Yeah? Probably that's Arow lines by
Speaker 1: the weakest unit.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I kind of thought last week it would have
Speaker 5: been better if Pittsburgh ended up playing Houston in Round one, sure,
Speaker 5: rather than even hosting Baltimore as the three seed. Uh,
Speaker 5: I would expect Houston to get bounced pretty quickly. This
Speaker 5: is just not a good matchup for them at all.
Speaker 4: How about Denver, Buffalo.
Speaker 5: I would be nervous if I'm a Buffalo fan. He
Speaker 5: worked so hard for this number two seed, and what's
Speaker 5: your reward is playing Sean Payton in one of the
Speaker 5: best defenses in the NFL. Buffalo's defense has been kind
Speaker 5: of an issue. In December, they gave up forty four
Speaker 5: points to the Rams forty two to the Lions. I
Speaker 5: believe I don't love rookie quarterbacks playing on the road
Speaker 5: in Round one, but I'm sure Sean Payton's gonna come
Speaker 5: up with a really good game plan to try to
Speaker 5: nickel and dine Buffalo's defense, which has worked a lot
Speaker 5: this season. I think Buffalo will win this game, but man,
Speaker 5: I do not feel confident about it at all. I
Speaker 5: think that spread of nine, I think it's eight and
Speaker 5: a half nine is way too high.
Speaker 1: I totally agree. I think Denver's defense keeps that very
Speaker 1: very interesting down to the end. You mentioned rookie quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: You know we've talked fantasy you and I a ton
Speaker 1: over the year. Here, I think there's be a ton
Speaker 1: of points in Washington Tampa. I mean, I know it's
Speaker 1: a rookie quarterback but you know, for those people doing
Speaker 1: like postseason fantasy, I want to get everyone I can
Speaker 1: in that game.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Matt, I was looking at the over under on
Speaker 5: that game and it was fifteen. I was like, that's
Speaker 5: just the first half lineall live, because because I don't
Speaker 5: see how either of these defenses are going to get
Speaker 5: stops in this now. Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay's defense was
Speaker 5: getting shred by Spencer Rattler last.
Speaker 1: Week in a mocking game.
Speaker 5: Meanwhile, Washington, who they were trying to beat Dallas, Trey
Speaker 5: Lance was moving the ball up and down the field.
Speaker 5: So I expect that to be a thirty four to
Speaker 5: thirty one type of game. But I think I'm gonna
Speaker 5: lean Tampa Bay just because they have a lot of
Speaker 5: veterans who have been in big games. I think Baker
Speaker 5: Mayfield is playing obviously the best football of his career.
Speaker 5: But honestly, that's probably the game I'm most excited to
Speaker 5: watch this this week. It should be a ton of fun.
Speaker 4: How about Green Bay Philadelphia?
Speaker 3: I know there's still some we're assuming Hurts is going
Speaker 3: to we don't know what's up with Hurts here. He
Speaker 3: hasn't been cleared yet, but assuming he does play. Do
Speaker 3: you think they handle the Packers or is this a
Speaker 3: situation where maybe he's coming back he's a little rusty
Speaker 3: after a few weeks.
Speaker 5: So what last year green Bay was the seventh seed
Speaker 5: and they went and played an NFC East team in
Speaker 5: Round one and they beat him. I'm not gonna mention
Speaker 5: what team that is because I happened to be a
Speaker 5: fan of that team out in Dallas.
Speaker 1: But no, I know the Cowboys question before you leave too.
Speaker 5: I I don't think this is a good matchup for
Speaker 5: Green Bay. I think, especially without Christian Watson, I just
Speaker 5: don't know how they're going to create plays vertically against
Speaker 5: Vicks Sangio's defense. I would expect Philadelphia to win this
Speaker 5: game by at least a touchdown.
Speaker 1: Me too, I think Philly might be the best team
Speaker 1: in the league right now. To be honest with you,
Speaker 1: So where are you on, Sam Donald? I mean, that's
Speaker 1: obviously our last game. Did we see a chink in
Speaker 1: the armor? Was there a bad day or is the
Speaker 1: the damn about to break?
Speaker 3: On?
Speaker 5: Sam Donald, I'm not all that concerned. I thought a
Speaker 5: great They did a great job of getting pressure. The
Speaker 5: red zone defense was awesome. Sam Donald has played too
Speaker 5: well this year to get overly concerned about a road
Speaker 5: game against the number one team maybe in the NFL.
Speaker 5: I think Sam's gonna be fine. I think they're gonna
Speaker 5: put up a bunch of points against the Rams this week.
Speaker 3: It should be interesting because as it works out the
Speaker 3: way the league scheduled this, all the AFC games first, yeah,
Speaker 3: and then you get the NFC playoffs. I don't know
Speaker 3: if they planned it that way or why they would
Speaker 3: have done it that way, but that's what we get.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I think what Fox just didn't want to give
Speaker 5: up the Packers Eagles game, which I understand. And then Sunday.
Speaker 5: I can't believe Sunday Night football chows Commanders and Buccaneers,
Speaker 5: but I get it. Those are two of the best
Speaker 5: offenses in the league. So it should be fun.
Speaker 1: Our Steelers haven't played on a normal Sunday and about
Speaker 1: an eternity. I mean, they're always on Christmas or three
Speaker 1: days and eleven days or Saturday or Saturday night.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I think. I think this is five straight games
Speaker 5: they've played not on a Sunday, which is pretty incredible.
Speaker 3: It's the longest streak they've gone without playing a Sunday game.
Speaker 3: Since their first year in nineteen thirty three. It's nuts,
Speaker 3: and they the Pennsylvania Blue Laws to deal with. That's
Speaker 3: where that's where we're at with this whole thing.
Speaker 4: But I knew.
Speaker 3: Whether it was going to be the Ravens coming to
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh or the Steelers going to Baltimore. Whichever way that
Speaker 3: worked out, that game was going to be Saturday night
Speaker 3: because it's must see TV.
Speaker 1: Oh it'll it'll get some ratings.
Speaker 5: Yeah, if they would have went and played Houston in
Speaker 5: round one, you know that game.
Speaker 4: Is on Saturday.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Houston's played that Saturday afternoon game about twenty five
Speaker 5: straight years.
Speaker 1: So yeah, So Mark, as we mentioned it, I mean
Speaker 1: you host lock on Cowboys too, And to me, that's
Speaker 1: probably the only coaching change that still could happen. Do
Speaker 1: you think they're out of the woods, Are they bringing
Speaker 1: McCarthy back or what's your tot take on that or
Speaker 1: is it done?
Speaker 5: I think McCarthy and Jerry Jones would like a deal
Speaker 5: to get done, but I think there's some things that
Speaker 5: are holding it up. For example, who's going to be
Speaker 5: the defensive coordinator? Mike Zimmer. Cowboys really like him, they
Speaker 5: want him back. He might retire, so that's part of
Speaker 5: the issue. They don't want to bring McCarthy back without
Speaker 5: knowing who the defensive coordinator is. And also McCarthy wants
Speaker 5: a five year deal. He wants some security and not
Speaker 5: just being another lane duck. Coach Jerry Jones wants them
Speaker 5: to come back on a one year deal to prove
Speaker 5: that he can right the wrongs of the season. I
Speaker 5: think they're going to come to a opromise. But if
Speaker 5: they don't, watch out for Kellum Moore to potentially come
Speaker 5: in and take his job.
Speaker 1: What would you do.
Speaker 5: I would probably move on to try to get one
Speaker 5: of these younger head coaches, maybe Lee and Collen from
Speaker 5: Tampa Bay. I don't think Ben Johnson wants any of
Speaker 5: this mess, but I think it's time to give some
Speaker 5: new energy to the building.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, Marcus, we appreciate your time here. We'll let
Speaker 3: you get back. I know it's a busy time of
Speaker 3: the year and you get probably seventeen more articles right
Speaker 3: for the thirty third team, But our guest has been
Speaker 3: Marcus Mosher of the thirty third team and of course
Speaker 3: the Locked On Network. You can check out Marcus's work
Speaker 3: on the thirty third team, and that's the spelled out
Speaker 3: thirty third, the number thirty third and then team great
Speaker 3: stuff on there. Again, we referenced that website all the
Speaker 3: time on this show, and we appreciate Marcus sharing some
Speaker 3: time with us and we'll see if he's right after
Speaker 3: this weekend up some good point a lot of Steeler
Speaker 3: Steeler fans hoping that is the case and they beat
Speaker 3: the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 4: Marcus, appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Thanks man, Thanks Elves.
Speaker 3: He is Matt Williamson. I am Dale Lolly. You're listening
Speaker 3: to the Drive here on the Steelers Audio Network. We're
Speaker 3: gonna take a break, Matt now, I'll be back with
Speaker 3: more right after this.
Speaker 2: This is the Drive with Dale Lolly and Matt Williamson
Speaker 2: on your twenty four to seven Home of the Black
Speaker 2: and Gold Steelers Nation Radio.
Speaker 4: And we are back.
Speaker 3: I am Dale LOLLI he is the Matt Williamson And uh, well,
Speaker 3: we just talked with Marcus Mosher from the Third Team,
Speaker 3: and I almost felt like he's been listening to the
Speaker 3: show because these are things we've been talking about.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, he reiterated a lot of things we talked
Speaker 1: about in the first segment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and even have been talking about all week again,
Speaker 3: you know everything you hear from.
Speaker 1: National and national and even if.
Speaker 3: You're listening to that other state in town, the Steelers
Speaker 3: have no chance to win this game.
Speaker 4: And I don't think it's crazy.
Speaker 1: I don't either, And I am shocked by the line
Speaker 1: and the public perception. And I also understand you know,
Speaker 1: you and I have done this a long time. This
Speaker 1: is a what have you done for me lately? Business?
Speaker 1: Especially through the fans' eyes, you know, like up, it's
Speaker 1: over or boy. The Ravens are untouchable. It's hard to
Speaker 1: win five games in a row. It's hard to win
Speaker 1: playoff games. It's hard to beat, you know, a rival
Speaker 1: that knows you extremely well. I'm sure the Ravens look
Speaker 1: at some things that they like in this game, for sure,
Speaker 1: But I don't think they were doing cartwheels when the
Speaker 1: bracket came out.
Speaker 4: I don't think so either.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this was not not one that you you know, again,
Speaker 3: you had the choice here if you're John Harve, Okay, we're.
Speaker 4: Gonna win the division.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's what we're trying to do here.
Speaker 3: Right, We're trying to do But then our opponent's going
Speaker 3: to be my brother Mike Tomlin, right, like, oh man, yeah,
Speaker 3: that doesn't can't we get the Broncos.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we get somebody that that doesn't know me so well.
Speaker 1: You know, that knows me as well as I know myself,
Speaker 1: and certainly Tomlin does. And that works both ways. But
Speaker 1: Tomlin's had the edge and that advantage over the years,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so the fact, yeah, Steelers have a little
Speaker 3: news here. They've released wide receiver Scotty Miller from the
Speaker 3: active roster. And I know some people might look at
Speaker 3: that and go, oh, I mean's Roman Wilson's coming over?
Speaker 3: And I'm sure that's the automatic response to that. Mason
Speaker 3: McCormick is questionable for this game.
Speaker 1: He's a broken hand.
Speaker 4: He's a broken hand.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you might need another offensive lineman, one more.
Speaker 1: Active on game days that you thought, you know, just
Speaker 1: because even if McCormick starts the game, what if he
Speaker 1: gets it wrong on a helmet or whatever, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's like I can't catch anymore.
Speaker 3: Catches it on somebody's ear. That's that's what happens all
Speaker 3: the time with that. So I don't have any ligaments
Speaker 3: in my my right thumb. I tore the ligaments of
Speaker 3: my thumb my senior year in high school and didn't
Speaker 3: tell anybody.
Speaker 1: During basketball season.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to have to miss any games.
Speaker 3: I already missed some games with a knee issue, but
Speaker 3: so I toughed it out all. I didn't even tape it, okay,
Speaker 3: just didn't lay might not, just didn't let anybody know.
Speaker 3: And we have to bump it every all five second
Speaker 3: time you catch it on somebody's jersey. You catch it,
Speaker 3: it's like it just it's just constantly like ah yeah,
Speaker 3: and it's just like somebody and even.
Speaker 1: He'll protect it. Yeah, but he's also blocking three hundred pounds.
Speaker 3: You know, somebody bending that thing backwards a little bit
Speaker 3: and putting pressure on the and you feel it.
Speaker 4: I mean, you're just going to.
Speaker 1: He's not going to do a club or anything like that.
Speaker 3: From what I said, he's not going to do any
Speaker 3: kind of you know.
Speaker 1: You hardly ever see people do the old club thing anymore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like you've got to be able to grab and use
Speaker 1: your hands independently. I mean, it's just not a hammer. No,
Speaker 1: but no, I give him all the credit in the world,
Speaker 1: but that's not going to be an easy you know,
Speaker 1: sixty minutes.
Speaker 3: No, No, I mean you can do things to mitigate
Speaker 3: that a little bit. But you know, at the same time,
Speaker 3: you know, it's a broken bone in your hand, and
Speaker 3: it does it also affects your grip strength and things
Speaker 3: of that nature.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean people think it's illegal to hold, but
Speaker 1: you grabbed cloth a low.
Speaker 4: To grab outside, right, right, you can grab.
Speaker 1: Inside and still grab outside too, as long as they don't.
Speaker 1: It's important, right, Like Zach Frazier is great grip strike.
Speaker 1: That's suff's important. Let me say about that. So if
Speaker 1: he can't go or if he's pulled from the game,
Speaker 1: Spencer Anderson would be his backup, right, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think we've seen that that's set pretty well. But then
Speaker 1: you're really lean, you know. I mean, so I assume
Speaker 1: what you're guessing is Miller makes way for the other
Speaker 1: Anderson just to be active on game day potentially. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know they they've That doesn't mean Miller's day is
Speaker 1: a Steeler are gone. I mean, he could end up
Speaker 1: backing them, but.
Speaker 4: He's now can out signed with anybody.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of teams right now filling out rosters,
Speaker 3: and you know you're into the season roster and that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff. So you know, but that that's to
Speaker 3: me is where that goes. The need right now.
Speaker 4: Is on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I always find that interesting. It's like this
Speaker 1: business is brutal. You know, Millar didn't do anything wrong
Speaker 1: and anything asked of them. Hold for an extra point, sure,
Speaker 1: be a gunner, sure, but in this instance he's the
Speaker 1: fifty third guy and another position is needed, and they're
Speaker 1: not gonna cut McCormick, you know, right, you know you're
Speaker 1: not gonna cut Spencer Anderson. So somebody needs to go.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately that's the way it works. I mean, some
Speaker 1: of these guys bounce around the league a lot because
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 4: You mentioned the holding stuff.
Speaker 3: The last game, the Baltimore Ravens had just two penalties
Speaker 3: in that game in Baltimore season low.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, as you mentioned before, they were the second highest
Speaker 3: most penalized team in the league. Yeah, this season, and
Speaker 3: they had two penalties in that Gay. I don't know
Speaker 3: if they have it fixed, by the way. No, that's
Speaker 3: one thing they do either, huge things.
Speaker 1: You know, like the first time the Steelers and Ravens
Speaker 1: met Man back into the defense is a disaster, you know,
Speaker 1: blown coverage is left and right. You know, obviously some
Speaker 1: people were playing out of position or not in their
Speaker 1: best spot back then. And penalties, man, you know, they
Speaker 1: they let people back into games. You know, Marcus mentioned
Speaker 1: this is a sloppy team, you know, and I don't
Speaker 1: think that part got fixed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they had twelve penalties for eighty yards in the
Speaker 3: first meeting.
Speaker 1: Okay, twelve for eighty I even remember when they came
Speaker 1: out of their by they had kind of a pseudo
Speaker 1: next by. They played the Giants when they were horrendous
Speaker 1: yea at that point, and they had a bunch of
Speaker 1: penalties in that game too. I mean, so it's pretty recently.
Speaker 1: I don't think they've cleaned that part of their game up.
Speaker 3: It's just kind of interesting that that some because that
Speaker 3: was one of the things that I looked at going
Speaker 3: into that game, like, okay, because they were the most
Speaker 3: penalized team going into that game and have and again
Speaker 3: it's held up that they ended up second most. Somehow
Speaker 3: they made it through that game. The Steelers were penalized
Speaker 3: five times for twenty nine yards, just the Ravens had
Speaker 3: two for ten. Yeah, they didn't hold the entire game,
Speaker 3: entire game they didn't have any penalties down the field
Speaker 3: for legal contact, which has been another big reflarement.
Speaker 1: That's their big areas. Yeah, and so recepts stuff they
Speaker 1: usually have issues with.
Speaker 4: Right, didn't do any of that stuff in that game.
Speaker 1: Maybe that'll come come around a little bit, right or
Speaker 1: even out.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So but again, if if you look at that game,
Speaker 3: it was seventeen seventeen in the third quarter, with the
Speaker 3: third quarter was almost done, and it was seventeen seventeen,
Speaker 3: and people were acting like that game was just a
Speaker 3: complete blowout all the Ravens was thirty four to seventeen.
Speaker 3: They just they just ran them off the field. That
Speaker 3: was not the case.
Speaker 1: No, no, it wasn't. And there were some game changing moments.
Speaker 1: Marcus brought it up too. I mean, ball hit the
Speaker 1: ground quite a few times and you just weren't able
Speaker 1: to pick it up. I mean, we did that video
Speaker 1: with Rob today and one of you two, I thought
Speaker 1: it was him, mentioned how many times the ball came
Speaker 1: out during this losing streak and how many times the
Speaker 1: Steelers have landed on it. It's just, you know, a
Speaker 1: ridiculously low percentage that even if you don't get fifty percent,
Speaker 1: like usually does even out. If you get thirty percent,
Speaker 1: things may have gone a little different. Yeah.
Speaker 3: The Ravens had three fumbles in that game. Yeah, and this,
Speaker 3: and the Steelers recovered none of them. Yeah, like that's
Speaker 3: that's just fumble.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were zero for four in that game and fumble.
Speaker 1: You know it just that's one of the things about
Speaker 1: this game. I mean, there is a lot of variables
Speaker 1: about it like that.
Speaker 3: And honestly, outside of the of the pass that he
Speaker 3: threw that was intercepted, I thought Russell Wilson played pretty
Speaker 3: well in that game.
Speaker 1: I didn't think the defense greatly confused them, or all
Speaker 1: their simulated pressures were you know, too much to deal
Speaker 1: with that he couldn't handle it. Yeah, I think he'll
Speaker 1: be okay.
Speaker 3: Against he was he was twenty two or thirty three
Speaker 3: for two hundred and seventeen yards with two touchdowns in
Speaker 3: an interception. If he goes twenty, if he throws for
Speaker 3: two seventeen and two touchdowns in this game, I'll take that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I would take cut the interception out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, you have to take that. Yeah. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's safe to say. I think that they'll be
Speaker 1: a fair amount of short passing, I think the backs
Speaker 1: will ketch, so the fair amount of balls got away
Speaker 1: from that. That was working well leading into the Bangals.
Speaker 3: Jalen Warren had five catches for forty four yards in
Speaker 3: that game.
Speaker 1: He had a nice streak going of yards from scrimmage,
Speaker 1: you know, fifty five, sixty five, seventy, you know, week
Speaker 1: after week after week.
Speaker 3: He just got nicked up in the last game and
Speaker 3: they didn't have They didn't A, they didn't have the
Speaker 3: ball long enough in the first half for anybody to
Speaker 3: put up any kind of stats. Yeah, but b then
Speaker 3: in the third quarter he got nicked up on a run.
Speaker 3: And I included when it was walking on TV.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people listening didn't know that either. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was a play. Announcers came out and like, why
Speaker 1: is he getting the seat of Warren or why don't
Speaker 1: we getting more Warren? That was never explained.
Speaker 3: It was because Warren was nicked up. I mean he
Speaker 3: took I think he took a helmet to the to
Speaker 3: the hip hip and kind of limped off and you
Speaker 3: didn't see him the rest of the game. That was
Speaker 3: maybe on the opening possession of the second half.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I would think he's a much bigger part
Speaker 1: of this game. Yeah.
Speaker 3: He's explosive, really really well and gives you a little something,
Speaker 3: a little juice there.
Speaker 1: But if you fire moves turned the corner.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, and people forget as well. In that game,
Speaker 3: Warren had twelve carries for forty eight yards. Harris had
Speaker 3: nine for forty two. The Steelers ran the ball effectively
Speaker 3: against the Ravens in that game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a little bit of a misconception.
Speaker 1: You brought this up earlier in the week that this is.
Speaker 3: A defense you just can't run on, not anymore seventy
Speaker 3: six Coyle Hamilton's fifteen yards off the line of scrimms.
Speaker 3: Coyle Hamilton's very good against the run, very good against
Speaker 3: That was one of the concessions that the Ravens had
Speaker 3: to make.
Speaker 1: Which is a smart move for them, but it's you know.
Speaker 3: They're easier to run against now than they were if
Speaker 3: they were like three point three yards per carry.
Speaker 4: They're leading the season.
Speaker 1: There, and also load some of those numbers were misleading
Speaker 1: too because they were so bad against the pass. Yeah, like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're only allowing seventy yards per game rushing, Why would
Speaker 1: you run whenever you can bombs away, right, and nobody
Speaker 1: knows who to cover, right, So the run defense is
Speaker 1: good and there's no question.
Speaker 4: But yeah, there's here's gay.
Speaker 3: I mean brokewe what doesn't mean you don't try?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say I and the Steelers didn't
Speaker 1: shy away from it from what I remember in either meeting.
Speaker 4: I mean you had twenty one.
Speaker 3: You had twenty one carries out of your two prime
Speaker 3: I'm mary backs for ninety yards, all right, that's over
Speaker 3: four yards of carry.
Speaker 1: And if Marcus is right and this is a seven
Speaker 1: to six game at the half, well they're gonna keep
Speaker 1: going with it. Yeah, mean they just keep sticking with it.
Speaker 1: And I like that approach. Yeah, short throws shots over
Speaker 1: the top here and there.
Speaker 3: Let's let's get to a break that's going to do
Speaker 3: it for our number one of the drive here on
Speaker 3: the Steelers Audio Network, Matt and I'll be back with
Speaker 3: our number two right after this